Women in the Know: Jennifer Jang

Author’s note: Saipan Tribune has featured leading women in higher education every week in a 10-part series, Women In The Know. We close the series with the story of Jennifer Jang.

Schools should teach students how to make meaning in their life, according to Jennifer Jang.

“I feel that our education system can benefit from our students having a higher level of self-awareness, because with higher self-awareness students can contribute back to the community at a much higher potential,” the 2005 Marianas High School alumna added.

Jennifer Jang

Jang’s dictum is premised in years of learning, teaching, and writing about topics concerning applying ethics, morals, and finding a purpose in education for students and teachers.

As an educational author, teacher, and doctoral student, the 28-year-old is continuously pursuing her passion in the field of education.

After graduating and receiving the Saipan Chamber of Commerce Scholarship, Jang matriculated at the University of Wyoming and double majored in intercultural education and international studies. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Vermont.

Not long after graduating, Jang was recruited to her current position at Champlain College as the associate director of student diversity programs, overseeing residential life and facilitating campus-wide educational programs. Jang is also a Mandarin adjunct professor for the Division of Communication and Creative Media at the college. She has previously taught applied ethics and philosophy at the graduate level.

While doing all of this, she is also pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Vermont and her MBA at Champlain.

“ I believe strongly as a woman in continuous improvement in learning,” she told Saipan Tribune. “The reason why I teach and continue to go to school is because I never want to stop learning. When I teach my students I get as much reflection out of that experience as my students say how much the learn from me.”

Jang’s passion for the enhancement of people’s experience in academia manifested in a recent book she co-authored, titled Preparing Students for Life Beyond College.

The 190-page book, published by Routledge, the world’s leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences, is geared for faculty and staff on how to effectively work with college students and find meaning in work.

The book, co-authored by UVM professor Robert Nash, Jang said, “is a direct product of having teaching a meaning making class for three years.”

“…I find this knowledge so enlightening and helpful for my own life that I want to be able to share it with others,” she added. “My hope is not to make money off the book, but feel blessed to be in a situation in life to be so supported by my work and my teaching. It allows me to have time to write these that I can hope other benefit from, whether it be staff faculty or students.”

Jang’s book can be purchased online and is available at university libraries. She plans to release another book focusing on how college students can solve real-life moral dilemmas by the end of the year.

A journey rooted in the island way of life

Even after finding success beyond Saipan’s shorelines, Jang considers Saipan her home. Her parents, Jason and Celia Jang, took her and her sister to the island when she was 10 years old.

“I would not have learned English and be able to speak the way I do today if I hadn’t moved to Saipan,” she said. “Saipan gave me the opportunity to try out a whole variety of activities and I know I probably wouldn’t have that opportunity if I were at any other place.”

Jang was an avid student athlete, while involved in speech and debate as well as the International Thespian Society. She was also a part of the first Teen Talk Live broadcast, a platform for students to speak about youth issues.

She hopes to eventually return to the islands to share her experiences and teach people here acro-yoga, a partner exercise which combines yoga and acrobatics—also a class that she teaches in the mainland.

Jang urges local students to find values to cherish and stand by. “The goal is to find things to guide your ethical compass,” she said. “Know who you are and how you are despite what people may tell you what to be.”

The Women in the Know

If the women in this series are any indication of the CNMI’s future, we can unequivocally say that it is one filled with positive contributions to the course of the CNMI’s future.

Many other women, and men, with island roots serve as beacons of hope and vessels of knowledge wherever they choose to go. It is the hope of many in the community that those who leave and attain success return, just as these women have promised to:

Bernadita Manglona
Anne Atalig
Johora Paeda
Roberta Guerrero
Dora Jo Ada
Andrea Hofshneider
Rica Delcruz
Abby Baker
Theresa Rose Arriola
Jennifer Jang

To find their individual stories, visit www.saipantribune.com.